The New Gang
by TheSwarklesLover
Summary: Ellie Stinson learns all the ups and downs of living life in her 20's, and she has the best people of all to guide her through it, her friends. She'll learn lessons about love, having fun, growing up, and just about everything else. Rated T just in case.


Oh, dear. Why, why, WHY have I started another story, already working on two others?! This idea just would not get out of my head! It's basically about all the gang's kids growing up, I plan to make Ellie more of the main character. I have another story, Again?, but these two are different, this is not a sequel of any sort, any events that transpired in that story are not related to this one. This story will still have a lot of HIMYM stuff in in though, I'll make sure to include stuff about the characters' parents.

* * *

2041

It's official, I'm 21. This is the age where most parents get concerned about their children having drunken nights, and becoming a messed up wreck. To be honest, I'm a little scared I may in fact become that wreck, knowing my friends and all. My friends and I have a pretty close bond, we've all known each other since birth, and our parents are all best friends, at least were. All my friends had been strangely excited for the day I could drink, apparently it's the day 'life begins', as they like to call it. Out of all my friends, I'd have to say Penny was the craziest about this day. Penny is my best friend, I love her, I really do, but she tends to be pretty wild. She's not a slut or anything, she just tends to be a very cheery, loud, and... drunk person. She even pushed me into getting a fake ID when I was 18, so we could sneak out and get drinks. I kindly rejected her offer, I had been too focused on pursuing my dream as a graphic designer. My Aunt Lily seemed overly excited that I chose to become a graphic designer, though we both did very different kinds of art, she enjoyed my passion for it, and still does.

I guess I could thank my dad for it, he got me a whole case of those Twistable crayons when I was 7, I later got into doing more advanced art courses as I got older, and I later found myself wanting it to be something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was really one of the very few talents I had. I was never like my late Aunt Tracy, who probably played about five different instruments, and I was a fourth grader who'd quit band, and couldn't even shoot a basketball. I asked my Dad if someone could teach me, and he decided he could try and have my Uncle Marshall teach me. Worst decision ever. My Uncle Marshall was pretty intimidating when it came to sports, he yelled at me when I couldn't make a half court shot, backwards. His words were, 'Ellie, how do you expect to learn when you can't even do the basics!?' My dad declared him insane, and I never took lessons from 'Coach Eriksen' again.

My friend, Marvin, takes after my Uncle Marshall. He has the same goofy qualities, plays basketball as hobby, inherited his height, and has an interest in environmental law. His sisters, Daisy and Anne, are also my close friends. Though, I'd have to say Anne is closest to me. She's closest in age compared to all the girls in our gang, so we share the same hobbies and interests. Anne's probably the only one who hasn't been clamoring or pressuring me to drink, unlike Penny. Of course I'd wind up having my first sip of alcohol, but it didn't seem like anything _too_ exciting. What was so fun about doing stupid things, and waking up with a killer headache anyways? My dad has told me enough of his stories from his 20's and 30's, but I think the best story has to be about my Uncle Ted and the pineapple incident. Even though I hadn't experienced it, the story still haunts me. I never want to get that drunk.

I drummed my fingertips on the the table in the front of the bar. Why was this so scary, my first drink? I think I'm responsible enough to not wind up like my roommate from college, Lisa, who got kicked out for her wild behavior. This should be easy, just pick something from the menu!

"I'll have a.. um..." I wasn't really sure what to get, let alone how to order. I turned my head to my dad, he was here with me, he insisted on buying my first drink. I can't understand why everyone, even my dad, was so excited about this. It's just a drink.

My dad nodded. "How about a bottle of Glenn McKenna 35?"

"Coming right up." the bartender responded.

"Look what they've done to this place." my dad observed, analyzing the room.

"Oh yeah, I remember you were telling me. How different has it gotten?" I asked.

"Well for one thing, there definitely wasn't the type of technology to have robot waitresses." he replied.

"The robot waitresses, do you mean the WENDYS?"

"Is that really what they're called?"

"Yes... why do you ask?" I said, slightly confused.

"No particular reason." my dad chuckled slightly.

"Here you go." The bartender came over and handed us two glasses and a bottle of Glenn McKenna 35.

My dad picked up the bottle and observed it a little. "I hope this thing still tastes just as good as before."

"You really didn't need to get me such an expensive drink."

"And let me daughter have some of that gross, cheap booze? No way!" he argued.

"Why is everyone making such a huge deal about this? Penny, Daisy, Marvin, and even my boyfriend, LUKE is so excited about this." I was pretty agitated.

"It's your first drink, it's when life begins!" he tried to make me more excited.

"Why does everyone keep saying that!?"

"They paid me to say it to get you more excited." he admitted.

"They did?!" I asked.

"No." he lied.

"Seriously? You are so lying right now." I accused.

"Okay, it wasn't them. It was just Luke." he confessed.

"Luke? That bastard!" I yelled.

"That's a nice way to talk about your boyfriend, seriously though, how have you guys been?" he asked, pouring some of the drink into our glasses.

"Well, we've been together two years now, and things seem fine." I nodded.

"Your previous remark about him said otherwise." my dad joked.

"I can't believe he paid you!" I was still angry.

"Eh, I don't think it's that bad of an idea. You really do need to go out and have some fun once in a while." he shrugged.

"Wha- really? I'm boring?"

"No, you're not boring! I'm just saying, you're growing up now, it wouldn't hurt to live life a little." he assured me.

"It's just that, you've always been telling me about how much you screwed up in the past, you're so scared of me making the same mistakes." I explained.

"Trust me, a little bit of fun will never get you in the path I was in. I'm such a screw up, I can't even begin to-"

"Dad, seriously. I get that you screwed up. I don't like when you talk bad about yourself, you came through for me, and you've came through for me for all these 21 years. You're the greatest dad ever. I can't even imagine you as the terrible guy you say you used to be, because you're such a great person now, that's all that matters to me. Whether you were Lorenzon Von Matterhorn, Neil Armstrong, or Mrs. Stinsfire, doesn't matter." I reasoned with him.

"Thanks, Elle," he smiled. "So, are you going to drink that? You've just been staring at your glass for 20 minutes, and stalling me with a speech about how awesome I am. Just drink!"

"Yeah, Ellie, drink!" Penny called out.

"Why are you so scared?!" Luke broke in.

"Drink!" Marvin chanted.

I turned my head. "How long have you guys been eavesdropping?" I questioned.

"We were soooo not eavesdropping!" Daisy lied.

"Come on guys, don't pressure her." Anne reasoned.

"Oh shut up, Anne." Penny groaned.

"Ah, what the hell." I said as I finally sipped my drink.

I could hear all my friends cheering. I really needed to find some more normal friends.

"This is the moment I've been waiting for my entire life!" Marvin yelled from the booth.

"She's growing up so fast!" Penny cried.

"This has a really strong taste to it, but I guess I like it." I shook the glass around a little.

"Yeah, you get used to it."

"I think I'm going to go sit with them over there now." I pointed to my slightly insane friends sitting at a booth.

"Okay, have fun, but DON'T get too carried away. I'm telling you, drunken nights are not fun. Don't be stupid. Don't let any guys sleep with you." he looked at me dead serious and pointed at me.

"Dad, why are you all of a sudden in serious mode? I'll be fine, I won't get too carried away, I promise." I laughed.

"I'm just saying, don't get too carried away." he repeated.

"I won't!" I exclaimed.

Not convinced, he walked over to my friends. "I'm putting YOU in charge of watching her, got it?" he told Luke.

Luke nodded. "Of course, I'm not about to let her do anything stupid.

"Good, you better mean that."

"Bye, dad!" I waved.

My dad gave me a hug, and waved before exiting out the door. I settled down into the booth next to Luke.

"So, you had your first drink! How was it?" Penny cooed.

"It was.. good? Is that the answer you're looking for?" I shrugged.

"Oh come on, didn't you feel that rush! That exhilarating feeling of sipping your first drink of alcohol!" Marvin urged me to say something more.

"Why are you guys so obsessed about this? Did you do this for everyone's first drink?"

The gang exchanged looks at each other guiltily. "Oh my god, you do! You celebrate for everyone!" I accused.

"Fine, maybe we do. But it's only because we've all known each other since we were babies! We're all best friends, and things like this, these are big moments!" Penny explained.

"Yeah. Just look at what happened to our parents, they began to drift apart, we might as well just cherish these moments we have together in our young life." Daisy added.

"Ugh, fine. I see your point, I guess I should maybe lighten up, and I promised I'd have fun." I groaned.

"Finally! Now you're lightening up, now how about we get us some shots!" Penny smiled, and clapped her hands together on the word 'shots'. Penny called over a WENDY and requested some shots.

"Whoa, we're not giving Ellie shots. I promised her dad I'd watch her. Besides, I don't want her getting hurt." he leaned me in closer.

"Oh my god, stop being such a pansy. Being in a two year relationship has transformed you into what you're dating, a girl!" Penny rolled her eyes.

"I'm just looking out for her!" Luke defended himself.

"Baby, I love you, but you kind of are being a wuss." I laughed.

"You guys are mean!" Luke whined and crossed his arms.

I felt bad making fun of him and comforted him a little.

"Oooh, the shots are here!" Daisy exclaimed as a WENDY brought them over to our table.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Anne asked.

"Just let her live life, Anne! Relax!" Penny retorted as she pushed the tray of shots in my direction.

"Come on, drink." Penny tempted me.

"I don't know.." I trailed off.

"Don't do it!" Luke and Anne said together, while Daisy, Marvin, and Penny were all chanting "Drink!"

"Aw, what's the harm?" I sighed.

I saw Luke and Anne roll their eyes while Daisy, Marvin, and Penny we're all cheering and clapping. I picked up one shot, and drank it. Damn, that was strong. A second, I downed this one even quicker. I could still hear them chanting. I picked up a third, and downed it. A bitterness was begin to develop in my mouth, but I continued. I took the fourth shot glass, and drank. One more. I could hear them all cheering even louder now. I took the finished the last shot, and they all began to clap.

"Okay, time to take you home now." Luke laughed nervously.

"Noo, hell no, I'm not even done yet, Lukey boy!" I giggled.

"Yes, you are." he affirmed.

"No can dooooo!" I shrieked.

I ran around the bar like a maniac, and made a circle, returning to our booth. I jumped onto the table and...

* * *

The Next Morning

Ugh, my head. Why's it pounding? I realize there was a red blanket over me. I opened my eyes, though my vision was a little hazy. I'm in the apartment that I recently moved into with Luke, and I'm resting on the leather couch. I pulled myself up with a little effort. I watched Luke come out of the kitchen.

"Oh, hello 'Dance Master Ellie'." he greeted me.

"Dance Mast- what? What happened last night?" I asked.

"Oh, wow. You were so out of it. You got so wasted, and you had a pretty crazy night." Luke laughed.

"This isn't funny. I'm hungover and feel like crap. What happened?" I closed my eyes and put my hand over my forehead.

And then Luke began to tell me, the story about my crazy drunken night.

* * *

How is this idea? I've had it for a while and I'd love to get everyone's input! Please review.


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